Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-12
THE HAYmARKET mAssACRE.
a History oTtbe crime OF the Chicaao
Anarchtsts.

THE HAYMARKET MASSACRE.
a History ortbe Crime OF the Chicnao
Ansrchists.
The history OF the offence for which
foug OF the condemned were hanged pos
sesses extraordinary interest. About the
lst Of May, 1886, says the Baltimore
SIN, the workingmen of most of the IN
dustr!Ai centres of the United Statts
were much interested ia movement
having for its oojcct the reduction OF the
time Of working day to eight honrs.
The circumstances were taken advantage
OF hy the Anarchists of Chicago 10 ere
ate disturbance and further their pro-
pagando. In the midst of the excite
ment growing ont OF the eight-hour move
mout a meeting was called by GER
tain Anarchists to be held ON the
evening of May 4tb, at the Hay
market, on Randolph street, in the west
division of the city of Chicago. The
meeting was addressed by Spies Par
sons, and Fielden. About 1920 =. NJ,
while Fielden was making the closing
speech, several companies Of policemen,
lSo in number, marched into the crowd
from the stltion on Desplaines street and
ordered the meeting to diSperse. AS
soon as the order WAS given some one
threw among the policemen Il dynamite
bomb, which struck began. one OF the
police officers, and killed him. As n re-
sult of the throwing OF the bomb and
of the pisto.-shots that followed
six policemen besides Degan were
killed and sixty more seriously
wounded. No one of the convicted
men. il appears, threw tine bomb with
his own hands. Rudolph Schnaubelt
threw It, but. though arrested, WAS al
lowed to cScIpo for want at that time OF
evidence to justify his detention. The
verdict Of the jury 10 the trial found
the defendants guilty Of numbering De
gan, from having been accessories be-
fore the act. Some OF the sSty-ninc
counts Of the inJlctmcnt charged them
with being present, advising, Gu
coma0ing, aiding, aud abetting" tue
thtowinQ Of the bomb. and others
charged them with abstting "Cne Ru-
dolph Schntubelt' - 10 the preparation
of the crime. An Illinois statute makes
the accessory equally liable with
the principal, and responsible for his
act. The maker of the bomb-which
consisted, 1t appears, Of 1.-TWO semi
glonular halves connected by bolt, and
held together hY nut screwing upon
the oud of The bolt was Louis Lingg,
who came 10 this country from Germany
in tue sumner OF 1885,. lis bombs
were OF about the size OF baseball,
and were mlde to be exploded by the ex-
ternal application of fire Lingg WAS
shown to have been engaged up to May
18th in The manufacture OF bombs exactly
resembling the one thrown at the Hay
market. About ti'ty bombs were made
10y him, under the auspices of the Inter
natoual Aibeiicr Association, and dis
tributel to members few hours before
the encounter with the police.
LiGeg was q member OF this as:Ocia-
ton, which vas pledged to the use Of
force to overthrow law and bring about
a social revolution and a redistribution
OF property. At the trial it was shown
that all the defendants were members of
the /. a. y. whose platform holds that
the present system under which property
is owned by individuals should be de-
stroyed and all capital which has been
produced by labor should be transformed
by force into common property" 1t
is said that there are eighty OF these
|. A. A. organizations in the United
States, seven Of which are in Chi
cago. Only a portion OF the members
OF each of these "grOups" Is pro-
posed to be armed aud drilled for war
upon society, yet in Chicago there were
5000 vino were provided with rifles and
pistols. Their programme included "A
plentiful provision also OF bombs, which
Lingg, in May, 1885, had only begun to
manufacture in serviceable quantities.
The |. A. a. had for its organs in Chi
cago three newspapers-the Arbeiter
/eiiuRg, OF which spies was editor
DR. Anarchist, edited by Fischer; and
the Aiam, edited by Parsons. All the
defendants were connected with one or
another of these papers, except Iingg,
who was the ferocious chemist and me
chanician of the conspiracy. Ii would be
a mistake to suppose that the HGymar-
ket massacre was an accidental outcome
of an unexpected meeting with the po-
lice On the contrary 1t had been con-
templated for months before, and was
deliberately planned for the very day on
which it occurred. The ArbcUcr lei
Ung of December 30, 1885, announced
the adoption by the "North Side Group"
of this resolution ''This assembly de
clares that the North Side Group, |. 4.
A., pledges itself TO work with all means
for the introduction OF the eight-hour
day, beginning on the lst Of May, 1896.
At the same time the North Side Group
cautions the workingmen not to meet
the enemy unarmed on the lst OF May" "
&c. On tine 22d OF January, 1885, the
Ar6citer said: with empty hands
the workingmen viii hardly be able 10
cope with the representatives of the club
in case, after the Ist OF May of this year,
there should be a general strike. But
il they are prepared to stop the working
of factories, to defend themselves with
the aid of dynamite and bombs, then.
aud only then, can you expect
thorough success These ex-
tracts show that collision with the
police was planned to take place about
the lst of May, 1886, and that bombs
were to be usedto destroy "the enemy"
What kind OF bomb was intended 70 be
used is shown by the following from the
Arbeiter Zeit,mg of November ~, 1886
" Letter-Box--S. Steel and iron are
not on hand, but tin two or three inches
in diameter" On March 2, 1886, the
Zeitung said "The time up to the lst
of May is short. Look out" On March
18th it said: "Here in America, where
the worlingnan possesses yet the free
dom Of meeting. of speech, and Of the
press. most should be done for the eman'
cipation OF suffering mankind. If we dc
not soon stir ourselves for bloody
revolution, We cannot leave anything tc
our children but poverty and slavery
Therefore prepare yourselves in al
Quietness for revolution" On May l.
1886, the Zeit,nQ said: "Bravely for
ward: the conflict has begun. II is sale
that ON the person OF one OF the arrested
comrades in New York list OF member
ship has been found and that all thu
comrades compromised have been ar
rested. Therefore away with all roll